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High Park Fire: 50% Containment, Pre-evacuation Notice For The Rustic Area

Rulli J
/
Larimer County GIS Department

The High Park Fire is still burning west of Fort Collins and is currently 50% contained. A new pre-evacuation notice was sent for the Rustic area including Glen Echo this morning.

Priorities in fighting the blaze continue to be structure protection and safety. With a red flag warning in place for high temps, low humidity and wind there still remains concern for extreme fire behavior.

A pre-evacuation notice has been sent to 95 contacts. From the Larimer Release:

Pre-Evacuation Fire officials have issued a pre-evacuation order for the area of Hwy 14 from the Pingree Park Road west to approximately mile marker 90, just west of the Glen Echo Resort.  Residents in this area need to be prepared to evacuate at a moments notice. Again, this is a pre-evacuation and all residents in this area need to be prepared to evacuate at a moments notice. This includes Rustic Road, which runs south off of Hwy 14 (just west of Glen Echo). IF residents need to evacuate, they will need to go west on Hwy 14 to Walden.

The 9:30am media briefing this morning listed the fire at 59,500 acres and 50% contained. Last night's structure assessment confirmed 8 additional home losses in the Buckhorn area. The confirmed total on structure losses is now 189.

Estimates on cost bring the total to fight the High Park to $14.7 million.

A list of current road closures can be found via the Larimer Sheriff and a the latest heat IR map [.pdf] has been released as well.

Update 11:10am via reporter Jessica McDonald:

There are 49 miles of confirmed containment line on the Eastern side. The weather continues to be a factor, with dry conditions and swirling winds complicating efforts today.

Firefighters are planning on working with aviation to control and slow the spread of the fire on the Western side. Commander Bill Hahnenberg says the strategy will require patience.

“We’re not very good at patience, we  in general, and we as wildland firefighters. We want to take care of business and move on. This particular fire, however, we can only deal with it effectively in a patient manner, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Update 2:49pm: Larimer County has put a total fire ban in place. This includes open fires and the sale and use of fireworks.

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